3 Good Reasons to Attend Your Local User Group Meeting

Are you an MSP business owner? Have you seen posts on social media about local Peer or User Group meetings and wondered why on earth you’d bother to go along? Personally, I highly recommend them, and attended plenty when I ran my own MSP.

So, to help convince you, here are three reasons I’ve found for engaging with my peers and becoming part of my local user group over the past few years:-

1. Why re-invent the wheel? Every problem you’ll face as a business owner or technician will likely have already been met and solved by one of your peers – doesn’t it make sense to learn from others rather than isolate yourself?
2. There are hundreds of vendors with thousands of products out there. You could spend all day, every day researching, via White Papers, reviews and magazine articles, their latest and greatest offerings. Or you could visit your local user group each month and hear directly from your peers. Learn what works, what doesn’t, and even meet the vendors directly to discuss their offerings.
3. Ever come across a project job you were under resourced to tackle alone? Are you a “one man band” or similar and can’t remember the last time you took a day off, or worry about what you’ll do if you’re off sick and unable to work? Wouldn’t it be nice to build relationships with your peers that would help you tackle this situation?

A View From the Inside

I asked Tubblog Community Manager and peer group enthusiast, Stephen McCormick, to share his views on what they’re like:

“I’ve noticed that peer groups draw people with similar but unique businesses at different levels of operational maturity. However, no matter how long you’ve been running your MSP, or how large your client base is, we all have similar concerns and aspirations.

Peer groups give you a great opportunity to grow your networks and learn from peers. Collaborate on ideas and new ways of working. Form strategic partnerships where our goals may align. We might attend because we need another perspective in resolving issues we’re stuck on. And of course, it can be a lonely endeavour running a business on your own. So peer groups allow you to vent your frustrations and anxieties with others that probably feel those pains as well, which can offer a form of catharsis.”

So if you have not visited your local user group recently, I’d encourage you to pop along and get involved. And to help you, have a look at The Tech Tribe and CompTIA for some meetups in your area. At worst you’ll have an evening spent talking shop with some fellow business owners and technicians over a pint!

You Might Also be Interested in

• Webinar: Why Working with Your MSP Competition isn’t as Crazy as it Sounds
• A List of User Groups for UK Managed Services Providers
• East Midlands Tech Tribe Meet-up: Local Networking for MSPs